Re: Lyon and Healy? Vintage? Antique?
I'm with Jim. More photos would be very helpful in estimating an ID: sides, back, headstock and tuners.
The thick MOP top banding and particular pickguard do not make me think L+H. (But they are always a reasonable guess sans a label.)
Those all MOP fretboards kind of creep me out thinking about what the must feel like under the fingertips. But I've never played one so it may be all in my imagination.
Value is going to be dependent on it's relative playability, which is going to be entirely dependent on the condition of the neck and its relative angle to the body / bowl of the mandolin. Sadly, these bowlback mandolins, despite their obvious craft, materials and detailing, do not command much of a price these days. Far too many were made, and so many are still around relative to the current taste / demand that the prices are inevitably depressed.
If the neck is in good alignment, this might be a $300 mandolin on a good day. A very good day. Others may quibble with me on that, but probably not by more than 25-30%. If the neck alignment is off and the playing action (distance from strings to fretboard) is poor (say 3/32" or more) then you are talking $100 max. Someone might pay a bit more to chop-shop the mother of pearl.
Glad you brought the mandolin by. Don't let the economic numbers qualify what it might be actually worth. It was your grandmothers mandolin! We'd love to hear more about her, the music she played, where she was from and where she might have acquired the mandolin. This is the Mandolin Cafe, after all, not Antique Roadshow....
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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